Kerapu

Groupers
Malabar grouper, Epinephelus malabaricus
Klasifikasi ilmiah
Kerajaan:	Animalia
Filum:	Chordata
Kelas:	Actinopterygii
Ordo:	Perciformes
Famili:	Serranidae
Subfamili:	Epinephelus
Genera
Acanthistius Alphestes Anyperidon Caprodon Cephalopholis Chromileptes Dermatolepis Epinephelus Gonioplectrus Gracila Hypoplectrodes Liopropoma Mycteroperca Niphon Paranthias Plectropomus Saloptia Triso Variola

Kerapu adalah nama ikan dari sejumlah genus dalam subkeluarga Epinephelinae dari keluarga Serranidae dari orde Perciformes.

Di Indonesia ditemukan antara lain :

• Kerapu bebek atau kerapu tikus (Chromileptes altivelis),
• Kerapu harimau (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus),
• Kerapu kayu (Epinephelus tauvina),
• Kerapu sunuk atau kerapu merah (Plectropomus leopardus).

Tidak semua Serranidae adalah kerapu. Dalam keluarga ini juga termasuk en:sea bass. Nama "kerapu" biasanya diberi kepada ikan dari salah satu dari dua jenis besar Epinephelus dan Mycteroperca. Di samping itu, species yang di klasifikasi dalam jenis kecil Anyperidon, Cromileptes, Dermatolepis, Gracila, Saloptia dan Triso juga diberi nama "kerapu". Ikan dari jenis Plectropomus disebut "kerapu sunuk". Semua jenis ini diklasifikasi dalam subkeluarga Epiphelinae. However, some of the hamlets (genus Alphestes), the hinds (genus Cephalopholis), the lyretails (genus Variola) and some other small genera (Gonioplectrus, Niphon, Paranthias) are also in this subfamily, and occasional species in other serranid genera have common names involving the word "grouper". Nonetheless, the word "groupers" on its own is usually taken as meaning the subfamily Epinephelinae.

Name Origin

The word "grouper" comes from the word for the fish, most widely believed to be from the Portuguese name, garoupa. The origin of this name in Portuguese is believed to be from an indigenous South American language.

In New Zealand and Australia, the name for several species of Grouper is referred to as Groper, as the Epinephelus lanceolatus Queensland Groper. In the Middle East, the fish is known as Hammour, and is widely eaten, especially in the Persian Gulf region.

Groupers are found a lot more in Florida than they are found anywhere else.

Basic Description

Groupers are teleosts, typically having a stout body and a large mouth. They are not built for long-distance fast swimming. They can be quite large, and lengths over a meter and weights up to 100 kg are not uncommon, though obviously in such a large group species vary considerably. They swallow prey rather than biting pieces off it. They do not have many teeth on the edges of their jaws, but they have heavy crushing tooth plates inside the pharynx. They habitually eat fish, octopus, crab, and lobster. They lie in wait, rather than chasing in open water. According to the film-maker Graham Ferreira, there is at least one record, from Mozambique, of a human being killed by one of these fish.

Their mouth and gills form a powerful sucking system that sucks their prey in from a distance. They also use their mouth to dig into sand in order to form their shelters under big rocks, jetting it out through their gills. Their gill muscles are so powerful that it is nearly impossible to pull them out of their cave if they feel attacked and extend them in order to lock themselves in.

There is some research indicating that roving coral groupers (Plectropomus pessuliferus) sometimes cooperate with giant morays in hunting.

Reproduction

Most fish spawn between May and August. They are protogynous hermaphrodite, i.e. the young are predominantly female but transform into males as they grow larger. They grow about a kilogram per year. Generally they are adolescent until they reach three kilograms, when they become female. At about 10 to 12 kg they turn to male. Usually, males have a harem of three to fifteen females in the broader region. In the rare case that no male exists close by, the largest female turns faster. Most males look much wilder and bigger than females, even if they happen to be smaller (compare bull to cow, or rooster to hen, or lion to lioness).

Modern Use

Many groupers are important food fish, and some of them are now farmed. Unlike most other fish species which are chilled or frozen, groupers are generally sold alive in markets. Any species are popular fish for sea-angling. Some species are small enough to be kept in aquaria, though even the small species are inclined to grow rapidly.

Ukuran

Sebuah surat kabar sempat melaporkan bahwa seekor kerapu seberat 396,8 pon pernah tertangkap di laut dekat Pulau Sembilan di Selat Melaka Selasa 15 January 2008.. (Image at [1])

Sebuah surat kabar dari Shenzhen (Cina) pernah melaporkan seekor kerapu dengan panjang 1,8 meter yang menelan seekor hiu dengan panjang 1 meter di aquarium Fuzhou Sea World.

• 
  Peacock grouper (Cephalopholis argus)
• 
  Coral grouper (Cephalopholis miniata)
• 
  Malabar Grouper (Epinephelus malabaricus), Melbourne Aquarium
• 
  Cephalopholis argus in Kona

Species of grouper include:

• Black grouper Mycteroperca bonaci
• Comet grouper Epinephelus morrhua
• Gag grouper Mycteroperca microlepis
• Giant grouper Epinephelus lanceolatus
• Goliath grouper Epinephelus itajara
• Miniata grouper Cephalopholis miniata
• Nassau grouper Epinephelus striatus
• Saddletail grouper Epinephelus daemelii
• Scamp grouper AKA Broomtail Grouper Mycteroperca phenax
• Warsaw grouper Epinephelus nigritus
• White grouper Epinephelus aeneus
• Yellowfin grouper Myceroperca venenosa

Referensi

• The Grouper is depicted on the reverse side of the 100-Brazilian Reais banknote.
• In the Philippines, the Grouper is commonly known as "Lapu-Lapu," named after the national hero who killed Ferdinand Magellan in the Battle of Mactan.
• In Aruba, the 500 Aruban Guilder Banknote, also features a Grouper in one of its faces
• In the original Drunken Master starring Jackie Chan , steamed grouper is one of the many dishes Chan's character requests during an attempted meal-theft.
• In Buck 50, a song from Ghostface Killah's album Supreme Clientele produced by RZA and featuring Method Man, Cappadonna, and Redman, Ghost confesses to eating grouper in a room in Cancun.

External links

• Grilled Hammour Recipe
• ARKive - images and movies of the humpback grouper (Chromileptes altivelis)

id:Kerapu